Detective Rad


"Who's there?" came the demand from the unseen person in
the tree.

"I might ask you the same thing," was Ned's sharp retort,
as he nursed his skinned and bruised fingers. "What are you
doing up there?"

There was no answer, but a sound among the branches
indicated that the person up the tree was coming down. In
another moment a man leaped to the ground lightly and stood
beside Ned. The lad observed that the stranger was clean
shaven, except for a small moustache which curled up at the
ends slightly.

"For all the world like a small edition of the Kaiser's,"
Ned described it afterward.

"What are you doing here?" demanded the man, and his voice
had in it the ring of authority. It was this very quality
that made Ned bristle up and "get on his ear," as he said
later. The young clerk did not object to being spoken to
authoritatively by those who had the right, but from a
stranger it was different.

"I might ask you the same thing," retorted Ned. "I have as
much right here as you, I fancy, and I can climb trees, too,